


Normalcy and Safety

by sternenblumen



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Bullying, Gen, Hurt Dustin, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attack, Post-Season/Series 02, injuries, missing person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 01:46:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14660760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sternenblumen/pseuds/sternenblumen
Summary: Steve feels like life in Hawkins is going back to normal.He may be right.But normal is not the same as safe.Or:He opens the door one Saturday afternoon and finds Lucas and Max standing there, their eyes big and scared in pale faces.“It's Dustin,” Lucas says, and Steve feels his stomach drop down to somewhere around the Earth's core, probably.





	Normalcy and Safety

**Author's Note:**

> Steve and Dustin and their friendship have stolen my heart - since there are a lot of stories about Steve being hurt, I decided to do one for Dustin. Poor boy!
> 
> First fic in this fandom and first fic in ages in general - I'd love to hear what you think :)!
> 
> Thanks to my beta @shapeyoursmile on Tumblr!

Life in Hawkins goes back to normal.

Sure, Steve now hates it to sit in the back seat of a car when someone else is behind the wheel, and there are the nightmares – they all have them though he hasn't told the kids about his besides the fact that he has them. He's talked about them with Nancy (he is capable of learning _some_ lessons, thank you very much) and with Mrs. Byers, too, who is surprisingly nice to talk to when she isn't a nervous wreak. Things have changed otherwise, too – Nancy, Jonathan and him are still awkward around each other, a bit uncomfortable and careful, but they seem to be somewhere on the way to being friends. And on some days, it doesn't hurt any more to see them together. Dustin has become a new fixture in Steve's life, always around to beg him for a ride or trying to get him to come to the movies with them or just to hang out, and he's got to know Mrs. Henderson who is loving and warm and insists that he stays for dinner half the time when he drops off Dustin. The other kids are not as affectionate, perhaps, but still gladly ride along with Dustin and don't complain about the older teenager hanging out with them. Well, at least not much, most of the time.

And the world moves on. There are finals, and basketball practice (and trying not to get into more fights with Billy though he's at least calmed down somewhat) and deciding what to do after graduation since he didn't get into any colleges – he could go to a community college, work for his dad, do something else entirely … And on some days, it almost feels normal again.

Which is why his second thought – after “Oh shit!” – is pretty much “Hawkins going back to normal? You poor, delusional fool.” when he opens the door one Saturday afternoon and finds Lucas and Max standing there, their eyes big and scared in pale faces.

“It's Dustin,” Lucas says, and Steve feels his stomach drop down to somewhere around the Earth's core, probably.

 

He convinces them to come inside long enough to explain to him what's going on, even if a big, huge, almost insurmountable part of him wants to grab his bat and his car keys and just _go-go-go._ Lucas takes a deep breath and launches into the explanation as if any time he's spending on breathing between words could be the difference between life and death. It's Hawkins. It probably is.

They had wanted to meet up at Lucas' place to hang out – Mike and Will were off visiting El since Hopper wisely had decided to restrict the amount of kids in his small cabin to no more than three at a time for the most part. Dustin hadn't showed, though, and they hadn't been able to reach him by radio or phone. His mom didn't seem to be home, either – Lucas thinks she's working. They had decided to check for themselves in the end, and on the way over …

“We found this,” Max says, holding out Dustin's trucker hat. Steve takes it from her and swears – Dustin never takes off his hat other than for sleeping and if he really has to. He sometimes thinks it's a pity since Dustin's curls are the most fun to mess with of all the kids' hairstyles but he guesses that's a sentiment shared by way too many aunts, grandparents, cousins and other relatives in his family for a kid to suffer, and Dustin has good reason to be so attached to his hat. In any case, it should be where Dustin is and not lying around halfway between his home and Lucas' place, with Dustin nowhere to be found.

“His bike wasn't at his house,” Lucas adds. “We tried radioing Mike and Will but couldn't reach them. Your place was closer than the police station, and I think Hopper isn't there, anyway, I think he's with the others ...”

“Okay. Okay, let's see what we can do,” Steve says, holding up a hand since it looks as if Lucas wants to barrel on further. “I'm gonna try giving the station a call anyway, we can at least get a message to Hopper. Be right back.”

He taps his foot impatiently as the call goes out and it takes a couple of rings for Hopper's secretary to pick up. Hopper isn't in, she doesn't know when he'll be back. Steve asks her to tell him to call back, and if he doesn't reach him by phone, to radio Lucas. If Flo thinks it's strange that the Chief is in radio contact with a middle-schooler, she doesn't say so. Steve hangs up and stands, trying to think. So, Dustin doesn't have his hat but he seems to have his bike since Lucas and Max didn't find that. That's reassuring, in a way. The image of an abandoned bike conjures up memories of Will going missing, and that's definitely not a road Steve wants to let his thoughts go down, even if they are trying to do so with increasing fervour.

He cards his hands through his hair, trying to decide what to do next. Should he call someone else? Mrs. Byers or Mrs. Henderson, at work? He decides not to, in the end. Joyce and missing children, that's not a good combination, and he doesn't want to cause Dustin's mom to panic, especially when she's working and can't just leave.

He goes back to the living room where Max is nervously spinning her skateboard on its end. Lucas is sitting still but looks as if he's ready to vibrate out of his skin any moment. “Alright, pipsqueaks,” Steve says and tries not to hear the undercurrent of fear in his own voice, “where do we start?”

 

They take his car back to where the two had found Dustin's hat, after Steve had made a detour to his room to grab the Supercom the kids had given him a while ago, and yes, also the bat from its place next to his bed. Then they stand on the empty road, each of them looking just as much at a loss as the next one – here's the place to start, sure, but where do they go from there? The weather has been dry, and Lucas tries valiantly to look for bike tracks or anything but there isn't really. Steve finally makes the executive decision that they should go in the direction of the town's edge, towards the woods. “Spread out a bit?” Max suggests, putting down her skateboard and setting her foot on it. “I left my radio at home, though.” 

Steve frowns but nods. “Keep in shouting distance, then,” he tells her. She nods, squeezes Lucas' hand and zooms off. “Radio as soon as you see anything,” Steve tells the younger boy, then turns and starts off. He'd have liked to keep close to them due to a mix of worry – one missing kid is bad enough – and not wanting to be alone with his thoughts which are busy with a thousand scenarios, one worse than the next, but they need to cover as much ground as possible. He calls Dustin as he walks, looks for anything that might show if someone had come through here recently, tries to listen for the smallest sound. “Come on, buddy, where the hell are you?” he mumbles.

He nearly jumps out of his skin when the radio in his hand crackles to life.”Steve, come in,” Lucas calls, and his voice is hoarse and makes Steve's throat close up. “I found his bike.”

“Fuck!” Steve angles his path towards the direction Lucas has gone into and speeds up. “Any sign of him?” The image of the abandoned bike and Will and the Upside-Down and everything that happened in the last two years is trying to settle on him like a lead blanket of panic – Will survived because he was good at hiding. Dustin is absolutely rubbish at hiding, way too loud and bouncy, he wouldn't last a day in the Upside-Down…

There's a bit of silence at the other end of the connection, then Lucas comes in again. “No. But...” His voice is shaking, and Steve is surprised that it sounds more like anger than fear. “There's a stick in the front wheel, it's totally wrecked. Who… What kind of asshole does that?!”

Steve is outright running by now but feels his panic ease the tiniest amount – a wrecked bicycle is more mundane than the Upside-Down, at least, even if Lucas is right in guessing it wasn't an accident. He reaches Lucas soon enough, sees Max's red hair flying towards them a short way off. The boy is standing next to the bike, biting his lip as he stares into the woods starting just a few steps away from them. Steve can see that even if he's not sure who was responsible for it, there's a good reason why Dustin left his bike behind – the front wheel has a distinct twisted shape to it, a few of its spokes broken and wrapped around a thick stick wedged against the fork. That still doesn't answer the question why Dustin kept going and where he did go to...

Steve takes another deep breath and forces his clamouring thoughts to the back of his mind again. All of that has to wait until later. He takes a look at the woods, trying to find his bearings. If he isn't totally mistaken, the Byers' home is close by to their left, and Hopper's cabin is somewhere deeper in the woods on the right. And there's the quarry ahead of them, he thinks. “At least we know we're heading into the right direction,” he says, scrubbing his hands over his face and hair. “Still. Fuck. Uh, okay, let's split up again – Hopper's cabin is in that direction, right?” Lucas nods. “Okay, that means we can maybe reach him or the boys when the signal gets strong enough. Max, you take the left – stay close enough so you can still hear me,” he reminds her, and her eye roll is at least a small breath of normalcy. “Lucas, you take the right, and try and reach the others.” He heads towards the woods in what he approximates to be the straightest line from Dustin's bike.

Then it's more walking, calling for Dustin, listening for an answer and the faint sounds of Max and, even more faintly, Lucas doing the same, occasionally Lucas' voice from the radio, trying to hail Hopper or Mike, and trying very, very hard not to freak out. It's mild today for early April but Steve thinks they don't have that much time left before they lose the light, and if they haven't found him by then... Shit. Shit, shit, shit. He reaches the quarry and is kind of glad he's out of the woods which make it feel as if it's already much later and darker. Steve isn't much of an outdoorsy person. Still, the quarry with its foreboding high walls has its own oppressive atmosphere, and he wonders if it's just because he's out of his mind with worry that his stomach twists when he nears one of the free spots at the edge of the path to peer down at the water below. There's a new set of horrible images to go with that sight, and he needs another deep breath before stepping back and continuing his way along the path.

Lucas calls for Mike on the radio again, and this time there is a reply, crackling badly with static on Steve's end. It seems to be clearer for Lucas, and he quickly launches into explaining the situation. Steve stays silent, just listens, mostly following the conversation on Lucas' end. Hopper's deep voice cuts through the static to ask something he doesn't quite catch, but it's enough to make him sigh in relief – he's no longer feeling quite so alone with only two of the kids, trying to cover way too much ground. 

He more or less tunes out the rest of the conversation until Lucas calls him: “Steve, do you copy? You got this?” He brings the radio up and answers: “I mostly just heard what you said but yeah, I heard Mike and Hopper. Are they at the cabin?”

“Yes,” Lucas replies, “and El will look for Dustin. She can find him, you'll see!” Steve raises an eyebrow – he's not quite sure what El can actually do, besides closing gates to other dimensions and throwing demo-dogs through windows. But if finding missing persons is on the list and she can find Dustin, he'll gladly buy her enough Eggos to last her a year to show his gratitude. “Okay,” he says, “let me know when she does. Over.”

The path has circled around while descending, and he's almost at the water level when he hears it – though he needs to stop and listen to be sure he wasn't only imagining it. There's a sound nearby as if someone is trying to breathe through hiccups. “Dustin?” he calls, and the sound stills for a moment and then comes back, now sounding more like a whimper. Steve's heart clenches in a mixture of hope and renewed fear. He turns towards the sound and follows it, steps around a big boulder...

And there he is, curled up in a ball behind it, his arms wrapped around his knees tightly. “Dustin!” Steve runs the last few steps, drops down in front of him. The bat and the radio clatter to the ground as he carefully reaches out to touch Dustin's shoulder. “Hey man, I'm so glad I've found you. Are you okay? What happened?”

Dustin doesn't reply, and Steve's stomach sinks again. He's staring straight ahead as if he's looking right through him, and his blue eyes are glassy and huge in his face as he desperately tries to draw in air, trembling as his hands are clenching the fabric of his jeans, and it doesn't seem to be working.

“Hey, hey buddy,” Steve says, trying to sound as calm and comforting as possible. He gently settles one hand on Dustin's shoulder and uses the other to slightly lift the boy's chin so Dustin is more or less meeting his eyes as he crouches before him. “Dustin. Listen to me. C'mon, breathe – nice and slow, in and out. I'm here, it's okay, you're okay.”

That's obviously untrue, though. The right side of Dustin's face looks scraped up and bruised, his lip is split and there is blood crusted around his mouth. He thinks he should radio the others to tell them that Dustin is here, but he can't get himself to turn his attention away from him. Not as long as he looks about two seconds away from passing out or breaking down in hysterical tears, and Steve doesn't think he could deal with any of those options.

But at least he's reacting to Steve's words now, giving an almost imperceptible nod and trying to slow and deepen his breath while he loosens his grip on his jeans and reaches up to hold onto Steve's wrist with one hand instead. It is excruciating to see him like that but all Steve can do is keep up a string of reassuring muttering, pausing only to breathe deeply himself in sync with Dustin. Finally, the boy's eyes become clearer, and he sags back against the stone behind him. “Steve,” he mumbles, voice weak.

“Yeah, bud, I'm here, it's okay,” Steve tries to smile at him even if he feels it must be looking pretty shaky. He dares to take away the hand cupping Dustin's face and snatch up the radio without looking. “Lucas, d'you copy? I've got him, we're at the quarry.”

Lucas' answer comes immediately, with barely contained relief and worry. “Is he okay?”

“Ye- no, not really. He's hurt – not badly, I don't think he needs a hospital,” he hastens to add. “So yeah, at least partially okay.” Steve sighs. “Get Hopper and come here, okay?”

There's a brief pause, then Lucas replies: “Okay, we're coming. Over.”

Steve puts down the radio and focuses on Dustin again, kneeling in front of him and pushing back the curls falling into his forehead. “What happened, bud? Are you hurt, other than your face?”

Dustin's eyes fill with tears, and he sobs: “I... I lost one of my teeth.” Steve winces but is as gentle as possible as he takes his face in his hands, tilting it and pulling up his lip where it has split – sure enough, there is a bloody gap in Dustin's gums beneath it, and Steve swears. Dustin had been so proud of his teeth now that they had finally come in... “Fuck, man, that fucking sucks. I'm so sorry,” he says.

Dustin just nods and then suddenly pitches forward into Steve, his arms wrapping around his middle as he starts to cry in earnest, his shoulders shaking with the force of his sobs. Alarmed, Steve freezes for a moment, his hands hovering in the air, unsure what to do with them, before he eases himself down on the gravel and shifts so that Dustin is sort of laying in his lap. “Shhh,” he makes, stroking his back. “It's okay. I'm here. It'll be okay.” It feels like not enough but it's all he can think of right now.

It takes a while until Dustin's crying peters out, and he just lays there, still holding onto Steve as if he never wants to let go. Finally, he shifts a bit, looking up at him. “It was Troy and James,” he says.

“Huh?” Steve doesn't think he's heard those names before.

“Troy and James,” Dustin repeats. “They're... they're bullies. I was on my way to Lucas, and they... they tried to ram me with their bikes, and I tried to get away but they didn't give up, and then James got a stick and stuck it in my wheel, and I fell...”

Steve may never have heard those names before but they've earned themselves a place on his shit list immediately. “Jesus,” he murmurs.

Dustin's voice is thick with tears but he seems to need to get out what happened now that he's started talking. “And I... I just ran because... Steve,” he swallows hard, “I was so afraid because what if they'd had a knife again? I... I didn't want to get hurt and I didn't want anyone else to get hurt, and... Shit, I'm such a coward, and it would have all been my fault, and...”

“What, a knife _again_?!” Steve's voice is sharp, and Dustin flinches, looking up at him with big eyes. He hurriedly runs his hand through his curls to soothe him. “Sorry, buddy, that wasn't directed at you. And you're not a coward! Hell, you went and set Upside-Down-infested tunnels on fire, and you kept a demo-dog as a pet, and... Those two assholes hurting people would never, ever be your fault,” he assures him – in the back of his mind, he thinks there must be a longer story behind that, with them having a knife _again_ , and Dustin being afraid they would hurt someone else than him, but he doesn't know if right now is the best moment to unpack it. “So you ran all the way to here?” he prompts carefully.

Dustin nods. “Yeah, until I couldn't run anymore, and I just hid, and when I heard you coming...” he looks away, ashamed. “I thought it was one of them, and I... I panicked, totally, and I couldn't breathe, and... I'm so glad you're here.” He hugs him tight around the middle again.

“Yeah, me too – I was worried sick,” Steve replies, wrapping his arm around his shoulder and hugging him as close as possible at this awkward angle. “But it's over now, you're safe now, okay? You're safe,” he promises, and it's probably a good thing Troy and James are not anywhere near him because he feels capable of murdering them on the spot right now.

“Mmm,” Dustin murmurs, and he watches with concern as the boy's eyes flutter closed. He nudges him gently with a finger. “Hey, you probably shouldn't fall asleep until Hopper is here and has checked you out. Does your head hurt?”

Dustin raises his shoulders in a small shrug. “Mostly my mouth. Okay, everything else, too, but it's not so bad...”

Steve sighs. “Okay, good – still, stay with me, okay?” He remembers vividly the concussion he had gotten from fucking Billy Hargrove and how Hopper had kept waking him up which had been annoying as hell at the time but which he knew had been necessary.

The younger boy mumbles something noncommittal but makes an effort to open his eyes again. He looks utterly exhausted and young, lying in Steve's lap like this, and Steve is torn between the relief of knowing he is safe and not badly hurt and aching for him and what he'd gone through.

 

They stay like this for a while – Dustin drifts off a few times but opens his eyes readily enough when Steve nudges him a bit. He doesn't talk, and while that is worrisome given how much of a chatterbox he usually is, Steve is content to let him be for now. He figures he needs some time to process everything that has happened, and he can't really blame him for it.

Finally, there is the crunch of tires on gravel, and Steve can see the top of Hopper's Blazer as he looks up, coming down the path towards them. The truck stops when it reaches the bottom of the descent, and then there are doors slamming and fast steps, and Lucas and Max are calling: “Dustin! Steve!”

“Here!” he calls back, raising a hand though he isn't quite sure they can see him behind the boulder where they're sitting. He shakes Dustin's shoulder gently. “They're here – wanna get up?”

Dustin nods and shifts, trying to sit up, but the movement makes the colour drain from his face, and he sags against Steve's chest. “Dizzy,” he breathes, and Steve's heartbeat speeds up again.

“No problem, man, I got you,” he says as calmly as possible, sliding his arm under the boy's legs and carefully gathering him up. “I got you.” He stands, just as Lucas and Max come barreling around the boulder and skid to a stop before him. Their faces are drawn with worry, and he gives them as reassuring a smile as he can muster. “Hey, you.”

They both barely look at him, their focus on Dustin. Lucas reaches out and touches his shoulder. “Hey, Dustin,” he says, and his voice is shaking. “Are you okay?”

Dustin turns his head to look at him and manages a small smile. “Yeah,” he replies.

Max steps closer and takes his hand, gives it a short squeeze. “Dude, don't do that again,” she admonishes him. “Steve will go grey by the time he's twenty if you do.”

Steve snorts. “I'm sure you little pests will manage to make me go grey even without stunts like this,” he says. “C'mon, move.” He walks around the boulder to where Hopper is just coming towards them from his car. The Chief gives him a short nod before looking at Dustin, checking him over. “Put him in the car so I can get a better look at him,” he says and steps back, opens the passenger side door.

Steve nods and carefully deposits Dustin on the seat, makes sure he's sitting properly before making room for Hopper. The older man gently touches his cheek on the uninjured side of his face. “Hey, kid,” he says gruffly but it's a tone Steve has come to recognise as affectionate. “How're you feeling?”

“Mmmm... My mouth hurts,” Dustin answers, his eyes sliding shut again for a moment, though he tries to keep them open – it seems to take an increasing amount of effort to do so. “My face... and I guess everything on that side. I fell off my bike. Dizzy, too.”

Hopper grumbles something in reply while he carefully checks the boy over, looks into his eyes and makes him follow his finger for a moment. Steve steps closer and says in a lower voice, trying to keep the other two kids from hearing though they're hovering worriedly close by: “He was having a panic attack when I found him, like, he couldn't breathe.”

The Chief shoots him a sharp look but nods. “I don't think it's a concussion – the dizziness is probably because of shock,” he declares. “Let's get you back to the cabin to get you patched up, okay, kid?” He messes up Dustin's curls. “You can tell us what happened then.” Dustin nods, his eyelids fluttering closed. Hopper steps back, and seeing Steve's concerned look, says: “It's okay for him to sleep a bit – like I said, it doesn't look like a concussion, and he's obviously been through a lot.” He motions to Steve and the two kids. “In you go.”

It's a tight fit in the Blazer's cabin, with three kids and two adults, but they make it work, Max and Lucas crammed between them and Dustin in Steve's lap again, so he can pull the seat belt over both of them. The sun is setting as they drive, and Steve feels exhaustion setting in, now that the fear and worry and adrenaline have faded. Dustin's hair is brushing his chin, and he is warm and heavy against his chest; it's reassuring, feeling him so close, dispelling the last of the horrible what-if images his head had been conjuring up during the search.

 

He carries Dustin again the short way to the cabin; he has woken up when Steve pulled him from the Blazer's seat but is still weak and dizzy, not in a condition to navigate the dark woods. Max and Lucas rush ahead, by now familiar with the path and the traps around the cabin, to give the secret knock. By the time Steve and Hopper reach the porch, the door is open, spilling light, and Steve is immediately mobbed by a horde of worried children until the Chief intervenes and gets them to leave him alone long enough to get Dustin inside and settled on the couch.

Hopper goes to get the First Aid kit, and the kids crowd around the couch as if Dustin will disappear if they leave him out of their sight for only a moment. El is carding her hand through his curls while Will is holding his hand and Mike has a hand on his shoulder, and Lucas and Max sit down on the floor in front of the couch, close enough that they could reach out and touch him even if they don't do so right now. It reminds Steve of another night where the kids crowded so close together, only they were clustered around Will that night, and El wasn't there yet. It makes him smile, and he thinks that even though things are changing, these kids have a special bond that may just survive the turbulences of growing up. He sits down at the other end of the couch as Hopper comes back and makes them move a bit so he can pull up a chair and start cleaning up Dustin's injuries. The discovery of the lost tooth draws sounds of dismay from the kids, all of them intimately familiar with Dustin's pride in his 'pearls'. But at least that's the worst of it, the rest just bruises and scrapes and maybe a sprained wrist. Hopper works slowly and methodically patching him up, occasionally asking him a question in a low voice, his tone gentle. Dustin is more alert now, so sleeping during the drive seems to have done more good than harm, and he's obviously soaking in his friends' affection and the comforting atmosphere of the cabin. Still, when Hopper stops his ministrations and leans back, looks at the boy seriously and asks, “So, what happened?”, he flinches, a miserable, frightened look flitting over his face as if he doesn't want to relive it even though he knows the others have a right to know.

“It was Troy and James,” he replies, and there's a ripple of response through the other boys, Will squeezing his hand, Mike's eyes narrowing to angry slits and Lucas letting out a low growl. The girls look about as oblivious to those names as Steve was, and Hopper throws a short inquisitive glance to the boys.

“They used to bully us all the time,” Mike says. “But they're in high school now, so they've let us alone since last year – plus, they were kinda afraid of us now because of El.” There's something unreadable in his expression as he looks over at her, and the girl's eyes go wide and round. “The mouthbreathers,” she says, and Mike nods. Again, Steve has the feeling there's a story behind it but Lucas, Will and Max don't seem to be in the know, either, while Hopper narrows his eyes thoughtfully.

Dustin shakes his head. “Maybe of El but they're not afraid of me at all,” he says miserably. “They chased me on their bikes and tried to ram me, and then James stuck a stick in my wheel, and I fell. Got up and ran, and I don't know, at some point they stopped following me, I guess...” He turns to look at Mike as he adds: “I just... I just had to think about that day, and I was scared they had a knife or something again, and...”, he swallows, “I know it's stupid because there wasn't even anyone there but I was so afraid they'd hurt... me or... or someone else.” His voice is small, and he can't quite meet Mike's eyes who, in turn, looks as if someone has hit him. El reaches out and takes his hand, her other hand still resting on Dustin's head.

Hopper sighs. “Okay, Mike, care to let us know the full story about what he means with 'that day'?” he asks. The boy looks up at him guiltily but nods and starts explaining how they had been searching for El when the two bullies had chased them into the quarry, how Troy had held a knife to Dustin's face and had demanded that Mike jumps into the quarry, and how he had done it but had been saved by El. Lucas and Will's eyes are huge as they stare at their friend, so it's obviously a story they haven't told anyone else before. Hopper scrubs his hands over his face and lets them drop again. “Jesus, kids...” he breathes. “You broke his arm, then?” he asks, directed at El.

She simply nods. “Yes.” At the same time, Mike asks: “Wait, how do you know...?”

Hopper grumbles: “'cause he came to the police station with his mother, saying something about a girl with a shaved head breaking his arm and making him piss himself. I didn't know about the knife and the forcing you to jump and all that, though. Damn, those two sound like some bad eggs.” He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. “Anyway. I definitely get why you were scared, kid, no reason to feel bad about it. The important thing is, you're okay now.” He gives Dustin's arm a squeeze, then stands up. “I'm gonna give your mom a call – you can rest another bit, and then I'll take you home, okay?” Dustin nods, still looking small and scared but at least a little bit better.

The Chief goes to the back to make the call – the cabin has a phone now though he still tries to use it as little as possible while El is not allowed to be common knowledge yet, and she has strict instructions never to answer it and to use the radio to talk to her friends – and the kids start talking again. It mostly consists of Lucas and Will demanding to know why Mike and Dustin hadn't told them about this and what the hell Mike had been thinking when he did jump, which Steve thinks is a very, very good question. If El hadn't been there, Hopper would have had to pull another body from the quarry, and in contrast to the one the lab people had tried to pass off as Will's, this one wouldn't have been fake. Shit, no wonder being chased by those bullies had brought up bad memories in Dustin. The curly-haired boy is lying on the couch quietly, letting his friends' voices wash over him and drifting off a bit, and Steve is watching him, just taking in again that he is here, he's safe, that he nearly jumps when Hopper comes back and puts a heavy hand on his shoulder. 

“Harrington,” he says, “where's your car?”

Steve blinks, then remembers. “Oh, it's still back on the road where we started searching. If you can take me to get it, I can help you get the rest of the munchkins home,” he replies.

“That was the idea,” Hopper says. He gets the kids' attention to inform them where they're going, and Steve gets to his feet. They trudge out to the Chief's car in silence but he doesn't start it once they're in their seats. Instead, he breathes deeply and takes out a cigarette, looking for a moment as if he wants to offer Steve one but thinks better of it. “Y'know, I'd say it's better to deal with teenage bullies than all that Upside-Down shit,” he says, “but knives and forcing people to jump into the quarry, Christ, and that was when they were still in middle school! I don't need more than one teenager in my town willing to kill his schoolmates.” He gives Steve a wry look, and the teenager snorts. “How's that going, by the way?”

“Billy? He's an ass but he's keeping his fists to himself,” Steve says. “I can deal with the rest.” He doesn't always feel as nonchalant about it as he sounds but it's not a lie.

“Good.” Hopper takes a drag of his cigarette, then starts the car. He doesn't need to impress on Steve that he's there to listen and help if not, has said it often enough. “Glad you were there to help today.”

Steve feels a slight blush creep onto his face but tries to play it off with a grin and a shrug. “You know I take my babysitter status seriously.”

The older man barks a short laugh. “That I do, kid, that I do.”

 

When they get back to the cabin, the kids have settled down on the floor in front of the couch, their backs against it, watching something on TV with the volume turned low. Dustin is asleep behind them, a blanket draped over him. He blinks awake when Steve makes the other kids say goodbye to El and get their stuff and Hopper carefully picks him up, blanket and all. “Hey kid, gonna get you home now, okay?” the Chief says in a low voice, and the boy nods against his chest. Steve finds himself thinking that he'd like to take Dustin home himself, just to be extra sure that he gets there safely, but he knows Hopper is better suited to explain what's happened to Mrs. Henderson without worrying her too much, and Dustin is in good hands with him.

That's the thought he holds onto after he has dropped off the kids and is on his way back to his house: Even if Hawkins doesn't return to normal after all, and even if 'normal' isn't the same as 'safe', there are people here who do their best to make it safe, who take care of each other when it isn't. Hopper is one of them, and maybe he is, too.

**Author's Note:**

> I spent a surprising amount of time and brain power trying to find out if Hopper's Blazer has a back bench and didn't even come to a satisfying conclusion! From what I read, it wasn't standard in the Blazer until the end of the 80's but it could have one? When it's mentioned in fics, it can go either way ... I decided to go with it not having one since I don't remember anyone ever sitting in the back in the show but I might be misremembering.
> 
> I'm sorry for making Dustin lose a tooth :(. Originally, I had planned to have him break an arm, not sure why I decided to switch to the tooth. Probably just for the angst potential.
> 
> Also, anyone have some tips on how to come up with titles that don't suck?


End file.
